Obituary: Ernest Black (1951-2021)

On Friday 12th February 2021, Ernest Black of Colchester died in hospital of Covid and underlying illnesses, just two days after his 70th birthday.

Ernest grew up in Surrey and went to Kingston Grammar School before reading Classics and Ancient History at Wadham College, Oxford, and then studying for a Masters degree in the History and Archaeology of Roman Britain at Keele University. A professional career teaching Classics at school level followed, starting in Durham, then moving to Brentford, before ending at Colchester in 2011.

Professor Martin Henig, one of Ernest’s tutors at Oxford, has informed me that Ernest chose school teaching as a profession because he thought it ‘would allow him to have more time for research.’ Indeed, both during and after retiring from teaching, Ernest spent most of his leisure time investigating, without excavating, various aspects of Roman Britain, especially in the South-East. He used site reports, other literary sources, and primary sources (finds) regarding the study of Roman tiles, which were a particular interest of his, especially roller-stamped flue- tiles. He was a prolific author about his discoveries and conclusions and published in various county and national journals and conference proceedings. He also produced two important British Archaeological Report volumes, the first in 1987 (BAR BS 171) on The Roman Villas of South-East England, the other in 1995 (BAR BS 241) entitled Cursus Publicus, The infrastructure of government in Roman Britain.

He was also a co-author with Ian Betts and John Gower of A Corpus of Relief-Patterned Tiles in Roman Britain (Journal of Roman Pottery Studies 7, 1997).

Regarding the archaeology of Kent specifically, Ernest’s publications include ‘The Roman villa at Darenth’ (Archaeol. Cantiana 97, 159-84) and ‘A Roman tile kiln and a small hoard of sestercii at Bircholt Farm, Brabourne, Kent’ (Archaeol.

Cantiana 141, 221-44). Ernest’s most recent finds work also involved a Kent site and consisted of a study

of the flue-tiles recovered from the East Wear Bay, Folkestone villa. He most generously also provided funding for ongoing work by Susan Pringle on the other Roman tile finds from the villa.

Ernest had a sharp mind and looked at the archaeological evidence very logically. In addition to his own major achievements, he was always very generous with his knowledge, help and encouragement. He will be much missed, and we have lost an important scholar of Roman Britain.

David Rudling